He didn’t care

Of cause he wouldn’t, why should he care? The boy was a thief, self-centred individuals who took what they wanted and didn’t care about the repercussions, there was no honour to be had among thieves so why would one care that someone he didn’t even know was in trouble.

To be honest, Sage didn’t feel he had any right to ask him for his help either, they had only just met, and not under good circumstances and it was only due to some hastily regrettable lie that the two had even interacted beyond him catching him stealing from another. But that was fine, he would square he shoulders and move on, say good bye and figure something out, Alert to watch maybe, draw their attention at the right moment. He didn’t know, it was a fleeting idea that was being kept aside for other more ludicrous plans.

But the thief’s demeanour changed like the wind

“He changed his mind?” Sage wondered, and began to smile sincerely for his change of heart. And then watched in surprise as the thief turned was now sprinting away, slipping past the more casual dock workers and other pedestrians content to mind their own business.

Wait, was he supposed to keep up with-

-He took off after the thief, running as fast as fast as he could to try and keep up. His effort to try and catch up was quickly rewarded by nearly running straight into a stranger, though the man did leap out of the way at the last moment allowing sage to keep up unhindered save for a stream of curses that followed.

“Sorry” he called back.

Unable to catch up to the boy, he began to focus on just keeping up and following the path the boy seemed able to carve through the crowds. He would weave left when the boy in front of him would weave left, slip around another when they crossed his path just to keep that patch of copper hair within his line of sight.

He thought to call out to him to slow down, even as he had to dodge to the left instead of the right, losing his line of sight for a brief second. The pace seemed to be fine however, though he was sure he had nearly run straight into twice as many people than the boy did. “Where are we going anyway?” back to the tavern, or somewhere else? Scara Brae may as well have been a labyrinth to him save for the docks. He just hoped that his companion knew where they were going!